The world according to Kinky

There are no words for Kinky Friedman. Iconoclastic renaissance man. Politically incorrect raconteur. That's about as close as a wordsmith can get to describing the original Texas Jewboy.

As an Irish journalist once asked him -- is there anything Kinky can't do? To his credit, the answer is probably not.

Yet, somehow Friedman is more infamous than famous.

"Fail at something long enough and you become a legend," Friedman said, paraphrasing his longtime friend and fellow Texan, Willie Nelson.

Friedman will spew that kind of wisdom in between songs old and new during a concert at Roy's Hall April 21, part of his Resurrected Tour that also stops at B.B. King's in New York (April 17) and Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem, Pa. (April 19). He'll be joined by guitarists Joe Cirotti and Brian Molnar.

This tour represents "a revival of the spirit," said Friedman, a singer-songwriter, humorist, mystery novelist, columnist, animal rescuer, cigar and tequila connoisseur and ex-politician, among other avocations, whose full name is Richard Samet "Kinky" Friedman. (He earned the nickname as a college freshman because of his curly hair.)

Still riding the success of his 2015 "comeback" album, "The Loneliest Man I Ever Met," Friedman became a couch potato for a time, until one day early last year Nelson called and asked him what he was doing. When Friedman replied "watching 'Matlock'," Nelson told him that was a sure sign of depression.

"Willie said 'start writing Kinky -- start writing.' So I did, that same night, and now I've got some of the best songs I ever wrote," Friedman said.

Some of them will go on his next album, which he'll start recording soon on his ranch outside of San Antonio. And Nelson, who contributed a song and vocal on "The Loneliest Man I Ever Met," will be involved again.

"He likes a song called 'Jesus in Pajamas.' I've known Willie forever. We met on the gangplank of Noah's Ark," the colorful Friedman said.

Friedman's music is what he calls "true country," in the tradition of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson. He has no use for contemporary music.

"What's happened to country music is what's happened to Hollywood. The audience has become the show. And because of the internet, they have cultural ADD," said Friedman, who doesn't own a computer or a cell phone.

"It's written by a committee ... anything to get the humanity out of the song. It's all homogenized. It's background music for a fraternity party. It's a business, first, last and always."

"The Loneliest Man I Ever Met" was Friedman's first studio album in almost four decades, since his songs "Sold American," "Nashville Casualty and Life" and "Ride 'Em Jewboy," among other cult hits, were popular in the 1970s. "The Loneliest Man" album is pure country, though it includes covers of Warren Zevon, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits songs.

"Life gets in the way," Friedman explained, about the lengthy recording gap. "I got into politics, spent a lot of time on that. A lot of the same people from those days are still in office," he said, seamlessly transitioning from music to the current political landscape.

Though never a Donald Trump supporter, Friedman said we should give our new president a chance. He was a big fan of Bernie Sanders.

"I was disappointed Bernie lost. It would've been the first time a Jewish family moved into a place that black people moved out of," he said.

Friedman famously ran as an independent for governor of Texas in 2006 on a "dewussification" of Texas platform. He lost but managed to draw 12.6 percent of the vote in a six-person race. He also ran for -- and lost -- justice of the peace of Kerrville, Texas, and Texas state agriculture commissioner (twice), as a Democrat.

His Texas Democratic heroes are former congresswoman Barbara Jordan, former governor Ann Richards and columnist Molly Ivins, all deceased.

"I still feel today's Democrats are not really Democrats. They think they are, but they're not," said Friedman, a Texan who was actually born in Chicago.

"Mark Twain and Will Rogers were right about these politicians. We should limit them to two terms -- one in office, one in prison."

Friedman supports the full legalization and cultivation of hemp and marijuana; higher pay for teachers and working to lower Texas' dropout rate; increasing security along the Texas-Mexico border, and opposes any and all smoking bans.

Friedman's music is not the only thing being resurrected. He is finishing editing on his first detective novel in several years, which will hit in early 2018, and his popular earlier book, "Road Kill," is being developed as a pilot for a limited series on network television.

He is co-author with Louie Kemp of Kemp's memoir "The Boys From the North Country: My Life With Robert Zimmerman and Bob Dylan," scheduled for release later this year. Friedman lists Dylan among his surprising and unusual circle of friends in high and low places -- a list that also includes former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Friedman performed with Dylan on the second leg of his Rolling Thunder Revue in 1976, the same year he was a guest on "Saturday Night Live."

"Everybody was in an uproar in 1965 at Newport, but if Dylan hadn't gone electric he might be a footnote in history," Friedman said, adding that Dylan once told him if he'd gone into music right after graduating from the University of Texas instead of going to Bornea with the Peace Corps, he would have been part of the Greenwich Village folk scene and probably would have had a fine career.

"He said my problem was I got into it five years too late," said Friedman, 72.

But true inspiration for Friedman doesn't come from Dylan or ex-presidents or even Willie Nelson. "The inspiring ones are Jesus, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela," he said.

The Kinkster also worships a good drink, a good cigar and animals. During the first half of his Resurrected Tour, he will auction off bottles of his personal brand, Man in Black Tequila, to benefit his award-winning animal rescue group, Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. (Friedman has saved more than 1,000 dogs from euthanasia.)

"I call it my Barry Manilow drink -- it makes you feel good for a short period of time," Friedman said.

Friedman also runs his own cigar company.

Coming soon from Backbeat Books will be Mary Lou Sullivan's comprehensive Friedman biography, titled "Everything's Bigger in Texas -- The Life and Times of Kinky Friedman." The book will be released in November. Sullivan penned the acclaimed Johnny Winter biography, "Raisin' Cain -- The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter."

Friedman has spent a lifetime railing against perceived mainstream cultural, political and social ills. He could be the Mozart or Van Gogh of his generation. Certainly, he says, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber won't be remembered by history.

"The mainstream is pretty toxic," said Friedman, who clearly marches to his own drummer.

But as a man who has traveled much of the planet, quotes Winston Churchill and FDR, calls two presidents pals and hails Willie Nelson as his "personal shrink," who's to say the world according to Kinky Friedman is wrong?

If you go ...

What: Kinky Friedman's Resurrected Tour

When: Friday, April 21 at 8 p.m.

Where: Roy's Hall, 30 Main St., Blairstown

Admission: $28-$33

Tickets, information: royshall.org, 908-362-1399

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Friedman will also appear at B.B. Kings in New York City on Monday, April 17, and Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem, Pa., on Wednesday, April 19.